ANAHEIM – Ernesto Frieri was feeling emotional after he closed out his third straight win Sunday for the Angels.

And so the 28-year-old Colombian closer said what he was thinking – that his team was going to beat the next team they played, their rivals. And while he was at it, he added that that team had benefited from some “extra luck” this year, too.

Predictably, ripples ensued. The comments aired on MLB Network throughout the next day. Many members of the opposing team, the American League-leading Oakland Athletics, heard and replied through the media.

Even his Angels teammates caught wind.

“Obviously people were razzing him a little bit, because you never want to hear that stuff come out,” said Joe Smith, Frieri’s set-up man in an improving Angels bullpen. “But even if it comes out in the papers or whatever, at the end of the day if your closer wants to step up and say something, that’s the guy that’s making the final outs if we’re winning. So if he’s got something to say, then he can say it.

“It’s kind of one of those feelings like, ‘Well, (expletive), all right, let’s go, boys.’”

Luckily for Frieri and for fans of high-tension sporting moments, he got the chance to walk the talk the next night, and he walked it with aplomb, striking out the side to clinch a 4-1 win over Oakland.

Fortunately for the Angels, Frieri couldn’t have been more dominant in striking out the side – against the middle of the A’s lineup, no less. The first pitch he threw was a try-me fastball up to Josh Donaldson, which the struggling slugger swung through. He followed it with a perfectly placed slider on the corner, and later got a called third strike with his fastball.

Brandon Moss then struck out swinging on three pitches, with impressive late movement on the putaway pitch. Yoenis Cespedes struck out on another high fastball.

The whole thing took five minutes. Frieri usually takes 25 seconds between pitches, per Fangraphs.com; he took just over 20 seconds in between pitches Monday.

Said Conger: “I don’t want to say he was more focused, but there was something different. There was, like, a fire lit under him.”

When he’s going well, Frieri always seems to be powered by pyrotechnics. He’s energetic, loud, passionate. But those characteristics were muffled in April, after Frieri struggled on the mound and temporarily lost his closer role to Smith.

But his effectiveness is back now, and he is back to being the vibrant presence he has consistently been since his May 2012 acquisition. In his last 16 appearances, Frieri has struck out 24 and allowed just four walks.

“I’m a fighter, man,” Frieri said Monday. “I came prepared this year to play until October. I did a lot of new stuff to get a little bit stronger physically and get prepared over here. We need to win. We need to start winning from now on. I hate when people say it’s still early. We need to win right now.”

Frieri said all those things in a matter of 15 seconds, in a true stream-of-consciousness manner. And he said them after apologizing to the A’s.

His teammates said they understood what was on Frieri’s mind.

“It wasn’t a jab at the A’s, because he knows they’ve played well against us,” Conger said. “It’s moreso him putting accountability on himself, for him to try to rise the occasion. Putting aside the specifics of what he said, I thought it was a great step for him to try to step up to the challenge. For him to go in there and really be dominant, confidence-wise, I think that’s going to be huge for him.”

Maybe his words will prove to be huge for the Angels, too. They followed his words by taking two of three from Oakland, carrying momentum into a seven-game trip.

“If you want to look at it as he backed it up, yes, he did,” Smith said. “But whether he would’ve said those comments or not, I think he would’ve been that same guy. Did it have an effect in our clubhouse? Maybe it did. Maybe it sparked us a little bit, like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ Finally somebody said we were going to step up and win, whether it was against Oakland or against anybody else.”

NOTES

The Angels’ second-round selection in last week’s draft, high school right-hander Joe Gatto, announced on Twitter he agreed to a contract. He’ll sign for a $1.2million bonus, according to various reports. … The Angels bring a 90-46 record in interleague play since 2007 into Friday’s matchup with the Atlanta Braves. That’s the best mark in baseball.

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